Lymnaeid snails hosts of Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica (Trematoda: Digenea): a worldwide review.

Abstract

Fasciolosis is a snail-borne disease, causing serious public and veterinary health problems worldwide. This disease is produced by infection with Fasciola hepatica or Fasciola gigantica through the consumption of vegetables or water contaminated with the parasite's metacercarial cysts. Both species of liver flukes are transmitted worldwide by small freshwater snails of the family Lymnaeidae. A global account on the species that are actually or may act as potential hosts of Fasciola spp., compiling particular research on their geographical distribution and susceptibility, is needed as a helpful tool in the understanding of fasciolosis transmission, and therefore in the control and prevention programmes of the disease. We have gathered here a comprehensive review of those lymnaeid species that are known to transmit the parasites in the field or that have been experimentally tested. We aim to bring forward the main intermediate hosts by regions in order to facilitate the understanding of worldwide transmission.

Reviewing Fasciola hepatica transmission in the West Indies and novel perceptions from experimental infections of sympatric vs. allopatric snail/fluke combinations

“…Liver fluke infection by F. hepatica is considered to be one of the most widespread trematodes (Mas-Coma et al, 2009), due in part, to the fact that around 30 lymnaeid snail species worldwide are recognized as intermediate hosts (Vâzquez et al, 2018). Its introduction into the Western Hemisphere is related to the European colonization of the Americas (1500-1800) by means of non-native infected cattle brought for settlement (Mas-Coma et al, 2009).…”

“…Its introduction into the Western Hemisphere is related to the European colonization of the Americas (1500-1800) by means of non-native infected cattle brought for settlement (Mas-Coma et al, 2009). With a supposed Eurasian origin (Lotfy et al, 2008), F. hepatica has found suitable hosts in the local American lymnaeid species of the genera Galba and Pseudosuccinea (Vâzquez et al, 2018).…”

Fasciola Species Introgression: Just a Fluke or Something More?

“…Translocation events are limited by the indirect life cycle of Fasciola spp., which requires a variety of prerequisites to be met in order to facilitate their successful expansion into a region. These include the availability of permissive hosts (both snail and vertebrate) and environments (water bodies to enable transmission), most of which have already been extensively reviewed [2,21]. The role that the international trade of livestock plays in the more recent dispersal of these parasites, however, is often overlooked despite sustained growth in global live export markets [2] ii,iii,iv .…”

Fascioliasis: A Foodborne Disease of Veterinary and Zoonotic Importance

“…A broad range of cosmopolitan freshwater snails in the family Limnaeidae are responsible for the transmission of fascioliasis. For instance, Austropeplea tomentosa, Hinkleyia caperata, Stagnicola corvus, Galba truncatula, Radix rubiginosa, and Pseudosuccinea columella, which are endemic (but not limited) to Australia, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America, respectively, have been reported previously [9]. Fascioliasis due to F. g igantica is predominantly endemic in the lower altitudes of tropical and subtropical parts of the world.…”

“…Liver flukes have a complex life cycle with a wide range of mammalian definitive hosts [9]. Humans are accidental definitive host of Fasciola species [13].…”